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WORLD SERIES

AUBURN FOOTBALL MAGIC CITY CLASSIC

YANKEES 3, PHILLIES 1

Teixeira, Matsui help even seriesYankees’ Burnett gets first postseason winBy RONALD BLUMThe Associated Press

NEW YORK — Mark Teixeira andHideki Matsui shook the New YorkYankees from their lumber slumberand sent the World Series to Phila-delphia all tied up.

Teixeira and Matsui hit solo hom-ers off familiar foe Pedro Martinez,backing a sharp performance by A.J.Burnett and giving the Yankees a3-1 victory over the PhiladelphiaPhillies in Game 2 on Thursdaynight.

A night after getting stopped byCliff Lee in the opener 6-1, theYanks bounced back from an

early deficit and won in the Seriesfor the first time since taking a 2-1lead against Florida in 2003.

After a day off, Game 3 will be atPhiladelphia on Saturday night.

Light-hitting Matt Stairs put thePhillies on top with an RBI single inthe second. Burnett then used a bit-ing curveball to keep Philadelphiafrom advancing another runner pastsecond base against him.

Teixeira, in an 8-for-44 (.182)postseason slump, tied the scorewhen he led off the fourth with adrive into the Yankees bullpen.

See SERIES Page 3C

AP

Hideki Matsui, right, is greeted by his Yankeesteammates after hitting a solo home run Thursdaynight against the Phillies.

By DOUG SEGRESTNews staff writer

When Alabama State linebacker AdrianHardy learned Anthony Speight wouldstart at quarterback last week, he offeredwords of encouragement.

“I told him if he didn’t do good, his carwouldn’t start,” Hardy said with a grin.

OK, the words weren’t that encourag-ing. But the results were.

Speight, a junior from Jess Lanier High,made his first start of the season at theposition and led the Hornets to a 24-17victory against Alcorn State. Thatsnapped a three-game losing record forAlabama State (4-3, 1-3 in the SWAC).

Speight is expected to get his secondstraight start Saturday at Legion Fieldwhen the Hornets meet archrival Ala-bama A&M (4-3, 1-2) in the State FarmMagic City Classic presented by Coca-Cola at 2:30.

Speight got the start against Alcorn be-cause starter Chris Mitchell “is a bitbanged up,” Hornets coach Reggie Bar-low said. But make no mistake, Speightbrings some impressive traits to thelineup.

“You want someone who can protecthimself and move around,” Barlow said.“Anthony is a student of the game and agood player — that’s why he was the topquarterback we recruited as a senior.”

See CLASSIC Page 3C

NEWS STAFF/MARK ALMOND

Alabama State’s Anthony Speight isexpected to start at quarterback inSaturday’s Magic City Classic.

Student ofthe gameEx-Jess Lanier starSpeight knowshis Classic history

THUMBS UPVince Young. It’s allabout second chancesfor the 2006OffensiveRookie of the Year. The

QBwill return to a starting role forthe 0-6 Tennessee Titans this Sundaywith a shot at redemption against aJacksonville defense that has pickedhim off eight times.

THUMBS DOWNBob Knight. Saying hisattendance would be adistraction to theother six inductees, the

legendary Indiana basketball coachdeclined an invite to be at theschool’s Hall of Fame induction.Somemight say that’s a noble reasonnot to attend. Others might say it’s apetty grudge.

UNLIKELY JOURNEYBowdendidn’t notsay he’llcoach UAB

Why do I believeBobby Bowden willnot be the next head

football coach at UAB?Lots of reasons. Here’s

one: He didn’t say hewouldn’t be.

Taking over a programhas become a 12-step pro-gram all its own. One of thekey steps is denial. Bowdenviolated what should be oneof the cardinal rules of hisprofession after a FloridaState practice this week. Headdressed Internet specu-lation.

He laughed at it, but still.In this case, he was asked

about the informed specu-lation or irresponsible ru-mor — you be the judge —that he might just take hisball after this season andcome home. To the townwhere he was born. To UAB.

That notion first surfacedon the Rivals site War-chant.com.

Andrew Carter of the Or-lando Sentinel asked Bow-den about it, and here’swhat the coach said: “I haveheard that. And Tommy’sgoing with me. Have youheard that?”

That’s right. This “story”has Tommy Bowden joininghis dad’s UAB staff as headcoach-in-waiting. As ifBobby hasn’t had enoughproblems with that conceptat FSU.

“I don’t know where itstarted, there or here orwhat,” Bowden said. “Youknow, you hear so many dif-ferent rumors, you get im-mune to them.”

A-ha. So he didn’t deny it.I first heard this rumor

more than a week ago froman informed source: TerryBowden. He laughed at it,too.

See SCARBINSKY Page 3C

NEWS STAFF/HAL YEAGER

Auburn offensive coordinator GusMalzahn talks to quarterback Chris Todd after Todd turnedthe ball over to Arkansas.

From high school to the SEC,Malzahn travels improbable path

By JON SOLOMONNews staff writer

Gus Malzahn was alwaysa doodler, beginning asa child when he woulddiagram football playswhile watching his be-

loved Dallas Cowboys on TV.“He would do all kinds of lat-

erals and double passes, any-thing weird that somebody elsewasn’t doing,” said Ray Ruh-man, Malzahn’s stepfather.

In high school, Malzahn tookcoaching fifth-graders on a boysclub team so seriously that hegame-planned in advance. It re-mains a family joke that Mal-zahn was discouraged from be-coming a coach by hisPhilosophy of Coaching collegeprofessor at Henderson State.

Malzahn always assumed hewould be a coach. But there hasbeen nothing conventionalabout the offense he designed orthe 15-year path in high schoolfootball he took to the collegegame.

“We’ve both been inamazement at times that it’shappened the way it did,” said

Kristi Malzahn, Gus’s wife.When his struggling Auburn

offense faces Ole Miss on Satur-day, Malzahn, 44, will be re-minded of the unlikely journey.The man across the sideline, Ole

Miss coach Houston Nutt,opened the door for Malzahninto college — and could haveshut it.

See MALZAHN Page 4C

AP

Then-Arkansas head coach Houston Nutt, right, introducesGuzMalzahn as his offensive coordinator before the 2006season. The Razorbackmarriage did not end upwell foreither.

Last laugh will belong to Ole Miss’ Nutt, not AU’s MalzahnThere’s nothing better

than a little bad bloodbetween coaches to

spice up a good rivalry, or agame that isn’t the big dealwe thought it would be afew weeks ago.

That’s what we have Sat-urday when Houston Nuttbrings his 24th-ranked Re-

bels (5-2) to Jordan-HareStadium to face the Au-burn Tigers (5-3).

Auburn’s offense is run byGus Malzahn, whom Nuttplucked out of the highschool ranks to be his offen-sive coordinator at Arkansasin 2006.

To cut to the bad blood,think Tony Franklin.

When Auburn’s 2008 sea-son turned for the worst un-der Franklin, the offensiveguru whom Tommy Tuber-ville brought in, he was

canned.When Arkansas’ offense

struggled in ’06 with futureNFL stars Darren McFad-den, Felix Jones and PeytonHillis, Nutt pulled the plugon Malzahn’s play-callingand deflated his ego evenmore when he brought inDavid Lee to take over theoffense the next year. Mal-zahn quickly left for Tulsa.

Malzahn and Nutt now

get a chance to show theother who was right, orwrong.

This week’s picks:

OLE MISSAT AUBURNSaturday’s game shapes upas a mismatch despite odds-makers making the free-fall-ing Tigers only a 31⁄2-pointunderdog. Where Auburn

has one proven playmakerin running back Ben Tate,Ole Miss has quarterback Je-van Snead, running backDexter McCluster and wide-outs Shay Hodge and Pat-rick Patterson. The Tigers’Chris Todd? The ManningAward Watch List QB hasn’tcompleted half his passesthe past two games.

See HOLLIS Page 3C